Symphony for Classical Orchestra
Encyclopedia
Harold Shapero
completed the Symphony for Classical Orchestra in B-flat major on March 10, 1947, in Newton Centre, Massachusetts
. It is written for an orchestra consisting of piccolo
, 2 flute
s, 2 oboe
s, 2 clarinet
s in B-flat, 2 bassoon
s, contrabassoon
, 2 horn
s in F, 2 trumpet
s in C, 2 tenor trombone
s and one bass (silent until the Finale), timpani
and strings. Although labelled "Classical," many of the work's features point to Beethoven rather than Haydn or Mozart, such as "the way in which Shapero paces himself, alternating long passages in the tonic and the dominant, with fast, dramatic modulations often reserved for transitions and developments." Nicolas Slonimsky
remarked on how the piece is "premeditatedly cast in the proclamatory key of B-flat major, the natural tonality of the bugle, and ending in a display of tonic major triads." But there are modern features as well, with "the work's orchestration, in general, ... distinctively bright and brassy, and undoubtedly derived a fair amount from Piston
and Copland
, as well as from the composer's experience as a dance band arranger."
The work is in four movements:
Some commentators have found hints of the blues in the slow introduction to the first movement. The ensuing Allegro is.
The Adagietto's theme "is classically balletic, with supple rhythms, graceful turns, sighing fourths, and sweet appoggiaturas and suspensions." The movement consists of "quasi-variations that ... are organized according to the sonata principle."
For the Scherzo, Shapero indicates it could be taken at two measures (battute) or four measures. These instructions naturally suggest the influence of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but the scherzo theme itself ... points more directly to the Third; Shapero updates Beethoven's two-note idea ... to include a jazzy flatted third. The movement contains other Beethovenian features: ghostly chromatics, ... a sort of peasant stomping, ... and a generous sense of humor, sometimes quite broad."
The Finale is rich in interconnections to the preceding movements, but especially the first movement.
The symphony was given its premiere performance by Leonard Bernstein
conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra
on January 30, 1948 and later in Hague. "Bernstein went on ... to record the whole work with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, a recording rough in spots, but whose passion and finesse clearly suited the music." By the end of the twentieth century, there was only one other recording of the piece, by Andre Previn
and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, a fact that has not helped the work's reception. On Bernstein's recommendation, Herbert von Karajan
considered recording the work, but ultimately decided he'd rather stick to Beethoven. Aaron Copland thought highly of Shapero but did not like his inclination to "hide the brilliance of his own gifts behind the cloak of the great masters." Of Copland's works, Shapero always admired the Short Symphony, even after Copland's popular Symphony No. 3, of which "Shapero criticized, among other things, the first movement's trombone melody."
Much later on in his life, Copland dedicated one of his Emily Dickinson
settings to Shapero. Prior to the Symphony for Classical Orchestra, the composer, still in his twenties, "was producing a series of chamber and orchestral works, each one longer and grander than the last," but afterwards wrote rather little music for the rest of his life. Fellow composer Arthur Berger
, who like Shapero was a member of the "Harvard Stravinsky school, and considered the latter to be "arguably the most talented of us all," was puzzled by the way the latter's "composing activity tapered off" after "this illustrious beginning."
Harold Shapero
Harold Samuel Shapero is an American composer.-Early years:Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Shapero and his family later moved to nearby Newton. He learned to play the piano as a child, and for some years was a pianist in dance orchestras. With a friend, he founded the Hal Kenny Orchestra, a swing-era...
completed the Symphony for Classical Orchestra in B-flat major on March 10, 1947, in Newton Centre, Massachusetts
Newton Centre, Massachusetts
Newton Centre is a borough of Newton, Massachusetts. The main commercial center of Newton Centre is a triangular area surrounding the intersections of Beacon Street, Centre Street and Langley Road. It is the largest downtown area among all the villages of Newton, and serves as a large upscale...
. It is written for an orchestra consisting of piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
, 2 flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s in B-flat, 2 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, contrabassoon
Contrabassoon
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
, 2 horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s in F, 2 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s in C, 2 tenor trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s and one bass (silent until the Finale), timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
and strings. Although labelled "Classical," many of the work's features point to Beethoven rather than Haydn or Mozart, such as "the way in which Shapero paces himself, alternating long passages in the tonic and the dominant, with fast, dramatic modulations often reserved for transitions and developments." Nicolas Slonimsky
Nicolas Slonimsky
Nicolas Slonimsky was a Russian born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" ; "a reviser or interpolator."- Life :...
remarked on how the piece is "premeditatedly cast in the proclamatory key of B-flat major, the natural tonality of the bugle, and ending in a display of tonic major triads." But there are modern features as well, with "the work's orchestration, in general, ... distinctively bright and brassy, and undoubtedly derived a fair amount from Piston
Walter Piston
Walter Hamor Piston Jr., , was an American composer of classical music, music theorist and professor of music at Harvard University whose students included Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, and Elliott Carter....
and Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, as well as from the composer's experience as a dance band arranger."
The work is in four movements:
- Adagio = 48, 3/8 — Allegro = 120 2/2
- Adagietto = 54, E-flat major, 8/8
- Vivace = 132 a due battute or = 138 a quattro battute, G majorG majorG major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
— E majorE majorE major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....
— G major - Allegro con spirito = 138-144
Some commentators have found hints of the blues in the slow introduction to the first movement. The ensuing Allegro is.
The Adagietto's theme "is classically balletic, with supple rhythms, graceful turns, sighing fourths, and sweet appoggiaturas and suspensions." The movement consists of "quasi-variations that ... are organized according to the sonata principle."
For the Scherzo, Shapero indicates it could be taken at two measures (battute) or four measures. These instructions naturally suggest the influence of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but the scherzo theme itself ... points more directly to the Third; Shapero updates Beethoven's two-note idea ... to include a jazzy flatted third. The movement contains other Beethovenian features: ghostly chromatics, ... a sort of peasant stomping, ... and a generous sense of humor, sometimes quite broad."
The Finale is rich in interconnections to the preceding movements, but especially the first movement.
The symphony was given its premiere performance by Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
on January 30, 1948 and later in Hague. "Bernstein went on ... to record the whole work with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, a recording rough in spots, but whose passion and finesse clearly suited the music." By the end of the twentieth century, there was only one other recording of the piece, by Andre Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, a fact that has not helped the work's reception. On Bernstein's recommendation, Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
considered recording the work, but ultimately decided he'd rather stick to Beethoven. Aaron Copland thought highly of Shapero but did not like his inclination to "hide the brilliance of his own gifts behind the cloak of the great masters." Of Copland's works, Shapero always admired the Short Symphony, even after Copland's popular Symphony No. 3, of which "Shapero criticized, among other things, the first movement's trombone melody."
Much later on in his life, Copland dedicated one of his Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life...
settings to Shapero. Prior to the Symphony for Classical Orchestra, the composer, still in his twenties, "was producing a series of chamber and orchestral works, each one longer and grander than the last," but afterwards wrote rather little music for the rest of his life. Fellow composer Arthur Berger
Arthur Berger
Arthur Victor Berger was an American composer who has been described as a New Mannerist.-Biography:Born in New York City, of Jewish descent, Berger studied as an undergraduate at New York University, during which time he joined the Young Composer's Group, as a graduate student under Walter Piston...
, who like Shapero was a member of the "Harvard Stravinsky school, and considered the latter to be "arguably the most talented of us all," was puzzled by the way the latter's "composing activity tapered off" after "this illustrious beginning."